Art Institute of Chicago

Palledar (Long Shawl)

Kashmir

Date

1815-25

Medium

Wool; center, twill; ends and border, double interlocking twill tapestry weave; main warp fringe

Culture

Kashmir

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The earliest Kashmir shawls introduced to Europe were made of white cashmere wool with decorated ends containing rows of stylized floral buta motifs. The pattern became known as paisley in English, after the town in Scotland that was a center of shawl weaving. The fine wool of a shawl’s central area was always the most fragile component, and this long shawl has been mended with two nearly invisible seams across the central white field. Europeans valued Kashmir shawls so highly that even fragments of the decorative borders were preserved, collected, and treasured.

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